Due to the supposed exigencies of having health and safety red-tape strangulation in every sphere of our legislatively-saturated society, Ilfracombe Rugby Club in Devon has decided to have the first ‘virtual bonfire night’ this very evening. After trying in vain to find suitably qualified fire marshals, and rejecting the necessary 300 tons of paperwork which would require completion before the event could take place, the rugby club will instead show a film of a giant bonfire on a mobile screen, with a PA system in place to add a soupcon of stereo sound to the proceedings. An estimated 2,000 people are expected to attend this lunacy.

Britain has the highest standard of health and safety regulations anywhere in the world. That is a fact. However, what is the benefit of a Pyrrhic accolade when the people of this country are increasingly constrained in everything they do for fear of transgressing ever-more intrusive laws designed for their ‘own benefit’? Everything in life carries risk. You cannot wrap society in a comfort blanket of nanny-state cotton-wool; it does not work. I would rather stop at home than step out on a cold night to watch a bonfire on a piece of canvass. I only hope the folks of Ilfracombe will think likewise.

No party throughout the democratic world can achieve political power without first affirming support for the various institutions of the country/territory they have been mandated to govern. In particular, the law-enforcing agents of the State must have that support whilst retaining their operational and structural independence. Otherwise you would see a situation in the democratic West similar to the various coups that have taken place across Africa. Zambia saw an attempted coup in 1997; Congo experienced the same in May of this year. Each time the parties attempting the coup tried to enlist the support of the police and/or the army to achieve their goals. In Africa, where human rights abuses are commonplace, coups are understandable if not justifiable. In the democratic West there is no system of government, nor has there been a history of government, where human rights ‘violations’ other than those minor indiscretions targeted by the likes of the loony Left or Irish separatism, have occurred. I know there are those who foamed at the mouth because some beturbaned hate-preaching Islamist or some Provisional IRA bacterium had been accorded nothing more from the police and justice system than they so richly deserved, but that is far removed from the experiences in other parts of the globe. In short, if you want to govern in the West, you support the legally-empowered forces of the State – end of discussion.

It is bad enough that the DUP are supping with the republican devil (and my purpose here is not to concentrate too much on their decision), without them having to face the clarion calls of a resuscitated pan-nationalist front demanding that all the pressure be put on them to force their hand. That very call is now coming from Sinn Fein’s political bitch, the Social Democratic and Separatist Party whose leader, Mark Durkan, has insisted the British and Alien governments show Paisley’s crowd just who is in charge. Nothing about the fundamental pre-condition of support for law and order (though I suspect it would amount to seldom more than cheap words). Durkan would rather see his ideological masters presiding over Northern Ireland without having to support the police, than face the prospect of Direct Rule and a morally-intact Unionist bloc. I always think the SDLP criticising Sinn Fein has all the comic irony of a pimp’s underling questioning the indecency of prostitution.

Sinn Fein and the SDLP are SEPARATISTS! They will always work hand-in-glove for anything designed (short or long-term) for the instability and eventual destruction of Northern Ireland. Durkan’s role as Sinn Fein’s Ulster play-thing only reinforces that fact. When are the DUP going to wake up!!!?

As I glanced at the polls and pundits talking about the American Mid-Term Elections, I wondered how many British people know, understand or care how their vote is allocated in the vital, some would even say fundamental duty of voting in the European Elections. The belief that their individual vote elects a European Member of Parliament is the single largest misunderstanding in modern politics. How many people have actually heard of a Belgian lawyer named D’Hondt? Not many will immediately claim a connection with how the European Parliament, one of the bodies which determines how you live, what you buy and, to a large extent, what you eat! The complex way that votes are allocated in a system which is vaguely understood on the continent, and not understood at all in the British Isles, is based upon a mathematical formula devised by this mathematician and lawyer, who incidentally died in 1901, (so you can’t plan to track him down and assassinate him in sheer frustration) to make things fair, and always allow the losers to influence the results!

A simple way of attempting the understanding of a very complex subject is to study a table, printed below:-

To best way calculate numbers of seats is to create a table with the actual number of votes divided by 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on:

Party:

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Votes divided by 1:

270

100

80

70

10

Votes divided by 2:

135

50

40

35

5

Votes divided by 3:

90

33.3

26.67

23.33

3.33

Votes divided by 4:

67.5

25

20

17.5

2.5

and then retire to a seat in any pub, clutching a pint (at least we still have pints, as Labour hasn’t made them illegal as well), and try to work out what might win the three-thirty at Haydock Park, because the system adopted by the technocrats and bureaucrats in Brussels is as much of a gamble as the average horse race, but with bigger rewards for the winners!

The voters might prefer a simpler system, of either ‘Majority Wins’ or even multiple votes for people of different abilities, education and achievements such as the one devised by the author Nevil Shute, which is more fully described in his novel "In the Wet", but that would mean acceptance that the system in place at present is faulty, and what politician is going to admit to heresy?

I have to express my disgust at the news that almost £5m of public money has been pumped into the pension fund for Northern Ireland Assembly members in six years.

And the contribution from taxpayers is more than three times the input from the politicians themselves! Newly-released figures show £4,868,910 was injected into the MLAs’ pension scheme from the public purse between May 2000 and March 2006. In the same period, contributions from members came to £1,530,010. That £4.87m is on top of salaries and expenses paid to MLAs, which last year added up to almost £9m. Now bear in mind that the Assembly has not functioned during the majority of this time. It’s a complete WASTE of tax-payers money.

Thanks to all who have been in contact re becoming a REGISTERED commentor in ATW. I think some folks have had problems with getting an email through to me, as I need to set them up on the Top 50 ATW ring.

Please use either the EMAIL THE EDITOR link above OR use the Email me link on the old Typepad ATW site. These should get through to me OK – and sorry if you have had problems – it’s still early days getting everything just perfect here but I’m working on it!

You know sometimes one focuses so much on the big issues that afflict this world, that tiny tragedies slip by un-noticed. I was reading this news story about how the father of four girls found murdered in their blazing home was concerned about the state of his disintegrating marriage. Friends said Mohammed Riaz, 49, had begun to fear that his Anglo-Pakistani wife, Caneze, was having an affair and it seems one thing led to another and …four young girls lost their lives. Mr Riaz had become devout in his devotion to Islam and centred his life around the local Mosque, apparently.

I have nothing to say about the rights and wrongs of this case other than to observe the desperation, anger and horror that lies behind the headlines. God bless the poor young girls, murdered by their own father.

And he urged people instead to focus on the root causes of crime and “show a lot more love”. The plea — which follows his “hug a hoodie” gaffe last summer — came as it was revealed that our teens top the league for casual sex, drinking, drug-taking and petty crime.

Mr Cameron said in a speech in Wales: “To those who simply say, ‘Crime is the fault of the criminal and that’s all there is to it’, I say: Tell it to a young offender."

I SAY TELL IT TO THE VICTIM OF CRIME.

Cameron is so soaking wet that he is virtually without substance – and yet the poor desperate for power Tories have installed this clown as their Leader. He seems to delight in making statements aimed at playing to the uberliberals in the MSM who themselves are much more concerned about the criminals than the victims of crime. It is NOT up to us to "love a lout" – it is up to Government to rigourously enforce the law, to punish those young thugs that break it, and to ensure that the law-abiding can go about their daily business without fear of robbery or violence. But that would reek of traditonal Conservative values…. and so must be jettisoned as thoroughly modern Dave seeks his claim as the leftful successor to Blair as a new phony PM.

Did yousee Question Time on the BBC last night? Not bad, for a change. Sure the audience were stacked with moonbats and converts to Greenism, but the panel were entertaining.

Michael Heseltine – the man who wanted to be Leader of the Conservatives – was good value. I don’t agree with him on virtually anything, but he’s an interesting speaker and he did make some good points.

Peter Hitchens is a man cut from the same clothe as myself. I have met Peter and found him an agreeable person who is good company. Pity the audience heckled him when he pointed out the nonsense around global warming, when he pointed out how ALL the political parties treat the electorate with contempt, how Cameron is Blair’s natural successor – not Brown, how the destruction of selective based Education has been a monstrous failure…all good stuff and all of which I agree with.

Amanda Platell was also good to watch. She was adept at pointing out the hypocrisies of both Labour and the modern Conservative Party under Love a Lout Dave Cameron. I think she spoke a lot of common sense and liked her.

Charles Clarke – former Home Secretary and now embittered politician every since he was sacked for his gross incompetence when a Minister was a hoot. I think he came across as a know-it-all, a bitter man, and someone who has not learnt from his errors. Most irritating character. Mr Bumble with a bad attitude.

And then – Ming the Merciless! Sir Ming Campbell – leader of the Glib-Dems. Oh dear – do you think he even knew what DAY of the week it was? He rarely showed any command of the topics being discussed, and his best moment came when he charged in to defend the marvellous comprehensive education system – which has destroyed the hopes of millions of kids. His key point seemed to revolve around the difference between cricket and football. What a moonbat!

You do not defeat terrorism by rewarding terrorists, regardless of how many bleeding heart liberals argue otherwise. Want to know where that flawed approach leads to? Read UNIONISM DECAYED 1997-2007 - It's my first book and it explains what happens when you seeek to appease terrorists and call it peace. It's available right now for ATW readers so make sure you get your copy by emailing the editor! This is the book that dissents from the herd mentality that doing wrong can lead to being right. It doesn't and this book spells out WHY.

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